After Koungheul, the Minister Secretary of State for Cooperatives and Peasant Supervision and the General Delegate of the DER/FJ traveled to Kaolack on Friday afternoon. Here, Dr. Alpha Ba and Dr. Aïssatou Mbodj also officially launched the national campaign to formalize organizations into agricultural and community cooperative societies, and signed a partnership agreement for the benefit of these agricultural and community cooperatives. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Governor of Kaolack; the Vice-President of the National Assembly, the Honorable Deputy Rokhaya Ndiaye; the representative of the Mayor of Kaolack, Ms. Ndiaya Mbow Tall; the representative of the Departmental Council, members of cooperative societies; local economic actors, among others.

“An important step in our shared commitment to the structuring, modernization and governance of the rural world”

In his opening remarks, the Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock, responsible for Cooperatives and Farmer Supervision, stated that the launch of this formalization campaign marks an important step in their shared commitment to the structuring, modernization and governance of the rural world. And its success depends on everyone's commitment.

"This campaign that we are launching is the result of an exemplary partnership between the two state structures. By combining the technical and financial mobilization of the DER/FJ and the technical know-how, institutional and regulatory mandate of the Secretariat of State for Cooperatives and Peasant Supervision, it gives substance to a national dynamic of formalization and structuring of 3,000 agricultural cooperatives throughout the territory, in accordance with the guidelines of the Head of State," emphasized Dr. Alpha Ba.

According to him, its success depends on the commitment of everyone: administration, communities, technical and financial partners, but above all the cooperatives themselves. "I therefore call on everyone to mobilize so that formalization is not perceived as a constraint but as an opportunity for growth, autonomy, and institutional recognition. The government, through our department, will ensure ongoing support, continuing training, and close monitoring of all formalized cooperatives," he said.

“Bringing the administration closer to citizens, while facilitating the compliance of rural organizations with modern legal and economic frameworks”

The state authority also emphasized the importance of the memorandum of understanding between the DER/FJ and his department. "Thanks to this partnership, the DER/FJ and the State Secretariat for Cooperatives and Peasant Management are bringing the administration closer to citizens, while facilitating the compliance of rural organizations with modern legal and economic frameworks," the Secretary of State immediately stated.

The objective, for him, is to enable each agricultural and community organization to have a recognized legal status; accelerate their access to financing, insurance and training mechanisms; strengthen local partnerships between field actors, technical services and support structures, and above all, sustainably anchor the culture of cooperation and economic solidarity in our regions.

“A strong political will to structure the rural world so that it is more productive and fully integrated into the national economy”

The General Delegate of the DER/FJ, for her part, revealed that the signing of this specific agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture through the State Secretariat for Cooperatives and Peasant Supervision and the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth reflects "a strong political will to structure the rural world so that it is more productive and fully integrated into the national economy."

According to Dr. Aïssatou Mbodj, "this agreement marks an important step in the implementation of the instruction of His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, President of the Republic, relating to the support by the DER/FJ of the formalization of 3,000 agricultural and community cooperative societies across the national territory, as he specified during his solemn speech on April 3."

"These cooperative societies will, of course, have to support the integrated farms that we are going to set up. Through this agreement, Mr. Secretary of State, our institutions are sealing a strategic collaboration based on a shared vision of accelerating the transformation of the rural world through the structuring, digitalization, and formalization of agricultural and community cooperatives," she explained.

He added: "The State Secretariat for Cooperatives, guarantor of food sovereignty and the promotion of sectors, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture. The DER/FJ, promoter and driving force of inclusive entrepreneurship, and you yourselves, have an obligation to combine their efforts to create an environment favorable to the emergence of formalized, viable, and competitive agricultural businesses."

For the General Delegate of DER/FJ, this partnership fully embodies the vision of the President of the Republic, HE Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, who makes food sovereignty, the territorialization of public policies and institutional synergy, major levers of national development. "By joining forces in this way, we are contributing to building a coherent, modern and inclusive ecosystem where every producer, man and woman, can fully participate in the creation of wealth and prosperity," Dr. Aïssatou Mbodj immediately stated.

Interconnect the Single Window for Formalization of the DER/FJ to the e-RSCOOP platform

One of the strong points of this cooperation between the DER/FJ and the SECEP lies in the interconnection of the DER/FJ Single Formalization Window to the e-RSCOOP platform where stakeholders can now register their formalization request directly from the DER/FJ departmental branches and benefit from advisory, structuring and registration services in collaboration with the DRDR and SDDR.

This major innovation will make it possible to automate the registration and transmission of requests for formalization of agricultural cooperative societies, reduce administrative delays and costs, strengthen the reliability and traceability of data on cooperatives, and above all ensure an effective transition of rural producers into the formal economy.

Beyond the digital aspects, this agreement provides integrated support, ranging from organization to formalization, including structuring and training. It thus strengthens the support content that the DER implements to serve grassroots economic actors. Once formalized, agricultural cooperatives will be able to more easily access financing programs, markets, and public and private support mechanisms.

In this collaborative effort, the DER/FJ provided logistical support with the provision of IT and office equipment for the DRDRs.